True Clarity

Beautiful Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta

A new page in the sketch book, called True Clarity! Today this sketch has grown into a painting about harmony with all the elements. Lake Louise is a shining diamond with the sun dancing on the water’s surface. Small waves reflect the light and send it into many directions. It is these angles of light which make all the colours so amazing.

While painting this cherished destination it has been my goal to reveal a true clarity within nature. Snow on the mountains is pristine with an abundance of green moss and rich forests. Water is clear, cool and crystal. One can almost see the bottom of the lake’s basin. Cooler colours accentuate the depth and bracing, icy temperatures. Sharp breezes play in the crisp mountain air.

This is a place for breathing in beauty. There is a dynamic play of light and the effect is one of infinite energy. A paynes gray underpainting and edge help to create a neutral base for the reflective violets, elemental blues, soft turquoise and emerald hues. The sky, is like a billowing fabric that you can push through. A landscape which captures anticipation and emotion uniquely like a special book in a collection of summer reading, which may be read again and again.

Sentimental Journeys

Sentimental Journeys is a collection of landscapes painted with acrylics on to gallery canvas. Paintings are 24×24″ and 36×36″ with a depth of 1.5″ and a painted edge, ready for hanging. These paintings represent a Banff sojourn – a time last fall, where I had a lot of fun visiting and exploring new and old trails. It was only after getting home that I realized there are actually sepia photos of these familiar and much loved places – created by my father when he first came to Canada. I have been walking in my father’s footsteps makes this sentimental journey, ever more special. This series by Canadian artist and designer Tina Monod is about the beauty close and far, near and within the Banff National Park and surrounding areas.